The subject matter disclosed herein relates to a system and method for generating a patient diagnosis. More specifically, the subject matter disclosed herein relates to a system for generating a patient diagnosis based on input from an electrocardiograph and/or an ultrasound device, and a method for implementing the system.
Left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH) refers to an increased heart chamber size or a thickening of the myocardium of the left ventricle of the heart. LVH is not itself a disease but is indicative of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM); which refers to a disease affecting the muscle of the heart. Accordingly, LVH may be identified as a means for diagnosing an otherwise undetectable HCM.
LVH is generally identified using electrocardiography or echocardiography. A problem with diagnosing HCM based on an electrocardiographic LVH analysis is that electrocardiography can only indirectly estimate myocardium thickness based on cardiac electrical activity, and is therefore potentially imprecise. A problem with diagnosing HCM based on an echocardiographic LVH measurement is that the echocardiographic measurement is labor intensive, expensive and time consuming. Another problem with diagnosing HCM based on an echocardiographic LVH measurement is that the echocardiographic measurement may identify an enlarged myocardium that is otherwise healthy and could thereby yield an inappropriate HCM diagnosis. As an example, an athletic patient with an enlarged myocardium that is attributable to aerobic exercise could be inappropriately diagnosed with HCM based on an echocardiographic LVH measurement.